#1 ·
First off, I’m putting out an SOS to all you almighty moderators: please don't move this over to the "Announcements" section. This isn't just a quick heads-up. This thread covers the entire project from start to finish—it's meant for the announcements, the follow-up comments, the impressions, and eventually, the big debates. Let's keep it all in one place!
And another thing—the stuff in the sticky threads is way harder to read than it is here. It's like half the size!
Page Check out this link for the Human Rights Film Festival! It's honestly such a great resource if you're into films that actually tackle the big stuff. Definitely worth a look. There really should be way more content on this page. That’s what they say.
The 5th Human Rights Film Festival.
Whether people realize it or not—and honestly, sometimes even with the law backing them up—human rights get violated, ignored, or just completely overlooked all the time. We’ve been debating and redefining what these rights actually mean for centuries. That’s why the Human Rights Film Festival matters. It’s a chance to step back, rethink everything, and see the world through a totally different lens. We’re hitting the big five this year, which is pretty huge! This is easily the most inclusive festival in the city. We’ve lined up over thirty films—everything from heavy-hitting documentaries and features to short films, and yeah, we’re even throwing in a classic Hollywood musical just for fun. The HRFF is all about tackling those deep ideological debates and giving a voice to the marginalized, the silenced, and the perspectives that usually go unnoticed. Plus, we'll have some heavy-hitting guests, panel discussions, and a killer lineup of live music to keep things moving.
The festival is happening this year from February 8th through the 13th over at the Europe cinema!
The festival kicks off with Emilia Estevez’s “Bobby.” It’s an adaptation centered on the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and honestly, I have no clue why this movie skipped over our local theaters and festivals despite all the massive praise it got from critics and audiences alike. It’s a heavy-hitting critique of the social and political chaos gripping America in the late 60s, blending gritty archival footage with fictional portraits played by Hollywood legends. Looking at the rest of the lineup—which is a wild mix of genres, lengths, and origins—there are a few standouts you can't miss. First up is John Gianvit’s “Motive for Profit and the Whispering Wind.” It’s visually stunning, radical, and a total, uncompromising elegy for American political history. Critics are calling his style "anti-Michael Moore," which is a pretty bold claim. Then there’s “Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me It Would Be This Bad in Afghanistan?” by the contemporary Dutch enfant terrible Cyrus Frisch. It’s a deeply subjective psychological drama and actually holds the title of the first feature film shot entirely on a mobile phone. If you want something different, check out Alex Cox’s “Trackers 2.0.” It’s a minimalist social satire that plays with Western tropes and B-movies; the characters even dive into things like Charlton Heston’s role during the war in Iraq. Finally, we have “Landscape Production,” a documentary featuring the lens of the famous artist Edward Burtynski. He has this incredible way of capturing both the beauty and the sheer strangeness of landscapes shaped by massive, permanent industrialization.
The side program dives deep into "female authorship" through the lens of film history. We’re looking at twelve different directors who, from the 1920s all the way to today, have dared to treat women as actual subjects. It’s about seeing them as complex individuals—full of their own unique perspectives—instead of just being used as objects to fuel some big cinematic spectacle. It’s a quick, diverse journey through how bodies, emotions, desires, joy, drama, oppression, and pure logic are portrayed when seen through a woman's eyes.
We’ve got a special guest joining this part of the program: Hito Steyerl. She’s an incredible film and video artist, plus a brilliant theorist. Her essays and documentary works dive deep into post-colonial critique, tackling the heavy stuff like globalization, migration, racism, and nationalism within the cultural and political landscape of the US. It's going to be intense..
There isn't a whole lot on this site, honestly. But hey, at least you can grab the essentials—you can download the full program as a PDF.
There’s a ton of good stuff on the lineup—honestly, a few absolute gems that are totally worth your time.
I’d have to pick the older stuff, specifically those classics by Varda and Chytilová—you know, like "Happy Accidents" or "Fruit of Paradise."
You’ve got your absolute classics in there—think Deren or Dulac—but then you’ve also got some fresh new stuff like Potter. It's a solid mix.
Word on the street is that De Palma’s latest stuff is pretty easy to skip. Honestly? I'm fine with that. But if you were one of those people obsessed with "Passion of Joan of Arc"—which, let's face it, was such a masterpiece when we saw it back in the day during that local film series—you actually have something worth watching coming up. We’re talking about the new Ulrich Seidl flick, "Import/Export." It’s getting huge praise, and I think it's definitely worth the hype.
Sokurov, the guy behind that modern classic "Russian Ark," is showing his new flick "Aleksandra." Honestly, it’d also be pretty cool to catch "Bobby"—you know, that Emilia Estevez project. For some weird reason, it completely skipped our theaters here (and video stores too, if I recall correctly).
I haven't really followed Aaltonen’s work, unfortunately, but out of these recent picks, the new Alex Cox movie might actually be worth your time. People over at PBS got a taste of his style a few months back during his film night, where they showed the cult classic "Repo Man." His newest one, "Tracers 2.0," is basically a parody of Westerns and B-movies—the title pretty much gives it away.
Also, Arzner and Sagan are definitely must-sees for any real cinephile.
The biggest pro is definitely these older films you don't get to see every day. Plus, getting a free ticket is a huge win, even if it does feel a little bit cheap sometimes.
The massive downside to this whole festival, though, is that it clashes perfectly with the Antonioni series running over at the local independent cinema—specifically those last three films from his famous tetralogy (originally a trilogy). It's such a huge bummer because the entire month of January was totally empty for screenings (except for that winning cycle at Europe toward the end of the month). Now, suddenly, at the start of February, you've got Antonioni competing with an awesome Human Rights Film Festival. And we all know this is exactly when the heavy hitters hit the big screens right before awards season—this time it's "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men."
And then there's February itself. It's cat month and finals season for students, who are exactly the people these festivals are supposed to target. That's another strike against it.
I guess we'll just have to find a way to squeeze it all in somehow.
And another thing—the stuff in the sticky threads is way harder to read than it is here. It's like half the size!
Page Check out this link for the Human Rights Film Festival! It's honestly such a great resource if you're into films that actually tackle the big stuff. Definitely worth a look. There really should be way more content on this page. That’s what they say.
The 5th Human Rights Film Festival.
Whether people realize it or not—and honestly, sometimes even with the law backing them up—human rights get violated, ignored, or just completely overlooked all the time. We’ve been debating and redefining what these rights actually mean for centuries. That’s why the Human Rights Film Festival matters. It’s a chance to step back, rethink everything, and see the world through a totally different lens. We’re hitting the big five this year, which is pretty huge! This is easily the most inclusive festival in the city. We’ve lined up over thirty films—everything from heavy-hitting documentaries and features to short films, and yeah, we’re even throwing in a classic Hollywood musical just for fun. The HRFF is all about tackling those deep ideological debates and giving a voice to the marginalized, the silenced, and the perspectives that usually go unnoticed. Plus, we'll have some heavy-hitting guests, panel discussions, and a killer lineup of live music to keep things moving.
The festival is happening this year from February 8th through the 13th over at the Europe cinema!
The festival kicks off with Emilia Estevez’s “Bobby.” It’s an adaptation centered on the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and honestly, I have no clue why this movie skipped over our local theaters and festivals despite all the massive praise it got from critics and audiences alike. It’s a heavy-hitting critique of the social and political chaos gripping America in the late 60s, blending gritty archival footage with fictional portraits played by Hollywood legends. Looking at the rest of the lineup—which is a wild mix of genres, lengths, and origins—there are a few standouts you can't miss. First up is John Gianvit’s “Motive for Profit and the Whispering Wind.” It’s visually stunning, radical, and a total, uncompromising elegy for American political history. Critics are calling his style "anti-Michael Moore," which is a pretty bold claim. Then there’s “Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me It Would Be This Bad in Afghanistan?” by the contemporary Dutch enfant terrible Cyrus Frisch. It’s a deeply subjective psychological drama and actually holds the title of the first feature film shot entirely on a mobile phone. If you want something different, check out Alex Cox’s “Trackers 2.0.” It’s a minimalist social satire that plays with Western tropes and B-movies; the characters even dive into things like Charlton Heston’s role during the war in Iraq. Finally, we have “Landscape Production,” a documentary featuring the lens of the famous artist Edward Burtynski. He has this incredible way of capturing both the beauty and the sheer strangeness of landscapes shaped by massive, permanent industrialization.
The side program dives deep into "female authorship" through the lens of film history. We’re looking at twelve different directors who, from the 1920s all the way to today, have dared to treat women as actual subjects. It’s about seeing them as complex individuals—full of their own unique perspectives—instead of just being used as objects to fuel some big cinematic spectacle. It’s a quick, diverse journey through how bodies, emotions, desires, joy, drama, oppression, and pure logic are portrayed when seen through a woman's eyes.
We’ve got a special guest joining this part of the program: Hito Steyerl. She’s an incredible film and video artist, plus a brilliant theorist. Her essays and documentary works dive deep into post-colonial critique, tackling the heavy stuff like globalization, migration, racism, and nationalism within the cultural and political landscape of the US. It's going to be intense..
There isn't a whole lot on this site, honestly. But hey, at least you can grab the essentials—you can download the full program as a PDF.
There’s a ton of good stuff on the lineup—honestly, a few absolute gems that are totally worth your time.
I’d have to pick the older stuff, specifically those classics by Varda and Chytilová—you know, like "Happy Accidents" or "Fruit of Paradise."
You’ve got your absolute classics in there—think Deren or Dulac—but then you’ve also got some fresh new stuff like Potter. It's a solid mix.
Word on the street is that De Palma’s latest stuff is pretty easy to skip. Honestly? I'm fine with that. But if you were one of those people obsessed with "Passion of Joan of Arc"—which, let's face it, was such a masterpiece when we saw it back in the day during that local film series—you actually have something worth watching coming up. We’re talking about the new Ulrich Seidl flick, "Import/Export." It’s getting huge praise, and I think it's definitely worth the hype.
Sokurov, the guy behind that modern classic "Russian Ark," is showing his new flick "Aleksandra." Honestly, it’d also be pretty cool to catch "Bobby"—you know, that Emilia Estevez project. For some weird reason, it completely skipped our theaters here (and video stores too, if I recall correctly).
I haven't really followed Aaltonen’s work, unfortunately, but out of these recent picks, the new Alex Cox movie might actually be worth your time. People over at PBS got a taste of his style a few months back during his film night, where they showed the cult classic "Repo Man." His newest one, "Tracers 2.0," is basically a parody of Westerns and B-movies—the title pretty much gives it away.
Also, Arzner and Sagan are definitely must-sees for any real cinephile.
The biggest pro is definitely these older films you don't get to see every day. Plus, getting a free ticket is a huge win, even if it does feel a little bit cheap sometimes.
The massive downside to this whole festival, though, is that it clashes perfectly with the Antonioni series running over at the local independent cinema—specifically those last three films from his famous tetralogy (originally a trilogy). It's such a huge bummer because the entire month of January was totally empty for screenings (except for that winning cycle at Europe toward the end of the month). Now, suddenly, at the start of February, you've got Antonioni competing with an awesome Human Rights Film Festival. And we all know this is exactly when the heavy hitters hit the big screens right before awards season—this time it's "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men."
And then there's February itself. It's cat month and finals season for students, who are exactly the people these festivals are supposed to target. That's another strike against it.
I guess we'll just have to find a way to squeeze it all in somehow.